About That John Brown-- Part 5: Well, What Was He?

He was found guilty and condemned to death which is exactly what he wanted.  He became a martyr to the North and, of course, was the very essence of the devil to Southerners.  They now knew that many Northerners wanted to see them murdered by their slaves.  They could not live in a country that felt that way about them.

His execution was attended by Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, J.E.B. Stuart and one John Wilkes Booth.

Voting in Congress now became very sectional  Brown helped disrupt the existing party system.  Had it not been for him, Lincoln likely would not have been elected president in 1860. That was the final straw that forced the South out of the United States.

A song that became popular during this time "John Brown's Body Lies A-Mouldering in the Grave" eventually got new words and became "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" at the hands of Julia Ward Howe, whose husband was one of John Brown's Secret Six.

At then end of the presentation, Bob Pressman had everyone weigh in on the question: "Was John Brown a Hero, Terrorist, Martyr or Mad Man?"

The majority of those assembled chose all of the above.

I, of course, could in no way call him a hero, though II know that he was a hero to some if not many.

--Old Secesh

This Month in the Civil War: Fort Sumter, Lincoln Assassinated, Johnston Surrenders, Booth Killed

APRIL 12, 1861

**  Bombardment of Fort Sumter, Charleston, South Carolina.

**  APRL 14, 1865

** Abraham Lincoln shot at Ford's Theatre, Washington, D.C.

APRIL 15, 1865

**  Abraham Lincoln dies.  Andrew Johnson sworn in as President of the United States.

APRIL 16, 1862

**  District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act passes.

APRIL 18, 1865

**  USA General William T. Sherman and CSA General Joseph E. Johnston sign armistice memorandum at Durham Station, North Carolina.

APRIL 26, 1865

**  John Wilkes Booth captured and killed in the Garrett Barn, Port Royal, Virginia.

--Old Secesh

Civil War Events in April-- Part 2: Lee Surrenders, Fort Sumter Fired Upon, Lincoln Assassinated

APRIL 9, 1864

**  Battle of Prairie D'Ane, Arkansas, begins.

APRIL 9, 1865

Robert E. Lee surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia.

APRIL 12, 1861

**  Bombardment of Fort Sumter, Charleston, South Carolina.

APRIL  14, 1865

**  Abraham Lincoln shot at Ford's Theatre, Washington, D.C.

APRIL 15, 1865

**  Abraham Lincoln dies.  Andrew Johnson sworn in as President of the United States.

APRIL 16, 1862

District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act passes.

APRIL 18, 1865

**  USA General William T. Sherman and CSA General Joseph E. Johnston sign armistice memorandum at Durham Station, North Carolina.

APRIL 26, 1865

**  John Wilkes Booth captured and killed in the Garrett Barn, Port Royal, Virginia.

--Old Secesh

Lincoln Stuff at Auction

From the January 30, 2022, Chicago Tribune advertisement of Heritage Auctions.

Americana & Political Auction:  February 12-13, 2022

**  Handwritten letter from Abraham Lincoln to the Army of the Potomac after the Union disaster at the Battle of Fredericksburg.

Opening bid: $250,000.

******************

**  Abraham Lincoln:  His personal example of his iconic portrait bust by Leonard Volk, presented to him by the sculptor himself.

Opening bid:  $100,000.

******************

**  Abraham Lincoln Assassination John Wilkes Booth:  $100,000 Reward Poster issued by the U.S. War Department, April 20, 1865.

Opening bid:  $40,000.

******************

**  Abraham Lincoln:  Exquisite Pocket Knife Presented to the President at the 1864 Philadelphia Sanitary Fair.

Opening bid:  $120,000.

Get Yer Lincoln Stuff Here.  --Old Secesh

McHenry County CW Round Table Prisons Discussion-- Part 7

Continued from April 6, 2021.

Continued from the March meeting of the McHenry County Civil War Round Table discussion group.

**  Barracks were more often built in Northern prisons than Southern ones.

**  56,000 from both sides died in prisons.

**  13,000 alone died at Andersonville.

**  At Andersonville, one group of Union prisoners called the Raiders and Regulators were buried separately.  they were tried by the other prisoners and eight executed and others forced to "Run the Gauntlet."

**  In contrast, during World War II, German and Italian prisoners held in the United States had it made.

**  At Rock island, food was distributed to barracks and prisoners passed out proportions.

**  Boston Corban, who shot Booth, spent four months at Andersonville.

**********************************

The topic of discussion for April will be April/May 1865, which was a very important period of time in the war with the fall of Richmond, surrenders, assassination of Lincoln and hunt for Booth.  This was our first hybrid Live/Zoom meeting and it was a success with four in attendance and four more on Zoom, including one from Florida.

--Old Secesh

It Happened in April-- Part 2: Battlefield Cleanup, Opening and Closings, Lincoln Shot and Booth Killed

APRIL 10, 2021   Annual American Battlefield Trust Park Day Clean Up     Give a hand today.

APRIL 12, 1861--  Bombardment of Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.

APRIL 14, 1865--  Abraham Lincoln shot at Ford's Theatre, Washington, D.C.

APRIL 15, 1865--  Abraham Lincoln dies and Andrew Johnson sworn in as President of the United States.

APRIL 16, 1862--  District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act passes.

APRIL 18, 1865--  Union Gen. William T. Sherman and Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston sign armistice memorandum at Durham Station, North Carolina.

APRIL 26, 1865--  John Wilkes Booth captured and killed in the Garrett barn, Port Royal, Virginia.

--Old Secesh

The Booth Who Saved a Lincoln

During the Civil War, there was an instance when a Booth might actually saved the life of a Lincoln.

Read about it in my Cooter's History Thing blog.

Go to the right and scroll down to My Blogs and go to the Cooter's History Thing Blog and click on it.  Then go to the March 22 blog entry.

--Old Secesh

Col. Ulric Dahlgren's Leg May or May Not Be Buried at the Washington Navy Yard

From the December 20, 2018, Greater Greater Washington, D.C.:  "Breakfast Links: 10 interesting facts about Navy Yard you probably didn't know" by Leticia Johnson.

Even though the Washington Navy Yard probably should be in my Civil War Navy blog, since this story is primarily on a Union Army officer, I decided to put it here.  I have been writing about the Washington Navy Yard in my Not So Forgotten: War of 1812 blog in regards to its destruction by the British and Americans during the attack on Washington, D.C., during that war.

I like to cross-over my blogs whenever I can.

Abraham Lincoln was a frequent visitor to this place during the war and John Wilkes Booth made his escape after the assassination over the Washington Navy Yard Bridge.

COLONEL ULRIC DAHLGREN'S LEG

Sounds like the makings of a good ghost story.  The man's leg was buried at the Navy Yard.

10.  There's a leg... buried in a parking garage... (that may or not still be there).

The severed appendage in question belongs to Ulric Dahlgren.

Want To Know More?  --Old SecehLeg

Answers to Frank's Questions from Yesterday-- Part 2

1.  Adelbert Ames--  Last Union general to die.  (Also Benjamin Butler's son-in-law.)

2.  Edward Kerrigan--  Of the 16th Illinois Cavalry.  Supervised the hangings of the six Raiders at Andersonville.

3.  Sgt. Harry Reese--  Of the 48th Pennsylvania.  Volunteered to enter tunnel to what became the Crater at Petersburg to see why it hadn't ignited.

4.  C. C.. Banks--  Of the U.S. Christian Commission.  Informed Lincoln's son Robert that his father had been shot.

5.  Elizabeth Queseberry--  Involved in John Wilkes Booth's escape into Virginia.

6.  Martin Reuben Merritt Wallace-- 4th Illinois Cavalry.  Brother of General Wallace.  Drowned at Cairo, Illinois, in 1862, while embarking for the attack on Fort Henry.

Hard enough there, Frank.

OK, Frank, here's one for you:  Who was James Reilly, Sgt. U.S. Army, Major C.S. Army and what was he noted for?

--Old Secesh

John Yates Beall-- Part 6: Did Beall's Execution Lead to the Lincoln Assassination?

There is a legend discussed by Lloyd Lewis that Lincoln was approached by John Wilkes Booth, who was a friend of Beall's, to save his life.

The president agreed to save Beall, but changed his mind when he was approached by Secretary of State William H. Seward who insisted that Beall's activities had been dangerous to citizens of the New York  (Seward's home state).

Supposedly, as the legend goes, an enraged John Wilkes Booth then determined to kill Lincoln and Seward for this betrayal after Beall was executed.

An Interesting Story, But Doubtful.  --Old Secesh

McHenry County Civil War Round Table-- Part 1: Lincoln Assassination

August 12, 2014, meeting.

The talk was given by Richard Stilling who spent 22 years as an FBI agent and also collects Civil War firearms.  He also worked the Kennedy assassination although his name is not in history books.  He finds lots of similarities between the two assassinations.

There was much political intrigue involved in both.

Then, there was the situation of the empty chair, a man of mystery and a simple letter.

At the time of Lincoln's death, the U.S. was having problems with relations with France, Spain, Britain and Russia.  Russia was expanding its sphere of influence in the Pacific.  (After all, the U.S. bought Alaska from Russia a few years after the war.)

Parts of Mexico had been taken over by England and France.  And France had really made its mark by installing Emperor Maximilian.

--Old Secesh

Lincoln's Blood Relics-- Part 11: Broadside Announcing Booth's Death

Booth died at sunrise on April 26th.  One of the leaders of the patrol; chasing him, Col. Everton Conger, rushed back to Washington, D.C., to report to his superior, detective Lafayette Baker.  Together they reported at about 5:30 p.m., to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton's home to give him the news.

"We have got Booth," Baker told him.  The exhausted secretary had no energy for grand language.  The statement he drafted and which the War Department telegrapher transmitted across the nation contained this:

"War Department, Washington
April 27, 9:20 A.M.
Maj. General Dix, New-York

Booth was chased out of a swamp in St. Mary's county, Maryland, by Col. Barker's [i.e., Baker] force, and took refuge in a barn on Garrett's farm, near Port Royal.

The barn was fired and Booth shot and killed.  His companion,Harrold [David Herold] was captured.  Harrold and Booth's body are now here.

E.M. Stanton, Secretary of War."

--Old Secesh

Lincoln's Blood Relics-- Part 11: Booth's Arsenal

Booth's Deringer used that night is just one of several arms he purchased for his March 1865 plot to kidnap the president and soon deployed in his plot to kill Lincoln.  He also had two Colt revolvers and a Spencer repeating carbine with him when he was killed.

he had issued a  revolver and knife to George Atzerodt who was supposed to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson.  (Atzerodt got drunk and ran away, throwing the blade into the street and selling the pistol at a Georgetown shop.)

Booth lent a knife and Whitney revolver to Lewis Powell who made a bloody but failed attempt to kill Secretary of State William Seward.  (Powell broke the pistol on the skull of one of Seward's sons and used the knife to stab Seward nearly to death, along with several other members of the household.)

Along with his Deringer, Booth also carried into Ford's Theatre a Rio Grande camp knife which he used to stab Lincoln's guest, Major Henry Rathbone, in the theater box, and which, after he leapt onto the, he thrust above his head for all the audience to see as he shouted, "Sic Semper Tyrannis" (Thus always to tyrants").

The audience was too far away to read the mottoes acid etched onto the blood-smeared blade: "Land of the Free/Home of the Brave"; "Liberty/Independence."

--Old Secesh

Lincoln's Blood Relics-- Part 9: The Defaced Photograph

The day after the assassination, technicians at the Surgeon General's photo laboratory copied a polular carte-de-visite photo of Booth and printed multiple copies for distribution to Booth's pursuers.

The author's copy was issued to William Bender Wilson, a telegraph operator at the War Department who was in the field during the manhunt..  He inscribed on the back of it, no doubt realizing the importance and historical value of the events, the words. "This picture of J. Wilkes Booth was given to me from the War department at Washington, D.C. whilst Booth was still a fugitive.  Wm. B. Wilson."

Upon learning of Booth's death, Wilson expressed his contempt for the murderer by defacing his image with a handwritten message: "...for the cause he said was a righteous one.  No!  Cowardly murder suited him better.  And this is is Chivalry is it?  Like a viper he lived -- like a dog died, and like a dog buried. 'Assassin.'  'Booth the accursed.'"

Few other relics preserve so well the passions unleashed in April 1865.

A Slice of History.  --Old Secesh

Lincoln Killing Shocked the Nation-- Part 8: "The Republic Vindicated"

On April 26, the Lincoln train reached Albany, New York.  That same day, John Wilkes Booth was cornered in a barn in Caroline County, Virginia.  Troops who had been trailing him set fire to it and he was fatally shot despite orders to take him alive.  Reportedly he whispered as he died, "Tell my mother I died for my country."

When Lincoln's body reached Chicago, the Tribune said:  "He comes back to us, his work finished, the republic vindicated, his enemies overthrown and suing for peace."

During the train's 1,700-mile journey, the last Confederate unit had surrendered; the war was over.

When the train finally arrived in Springfield, a Civil War veteran had a sense that Lincoln's work was not yet complete.  Without him, the road to equality for blacks was going to be a long and hard one.

Thousands of blacks came to Springfield for his burial.  "As the bier passed, almost every one of them either knelt or prostrated himself or herself upon the ground and gave way to touching demonstrations of grief," said Major Robert McClaughry.  "They knew that their greatest friend was passing to his rest, and the future seemed dark enough to their vision."

--Old Secesh

Lincoln's Killing Stunned the Nation-- Part 2

Continued from May 26th.

It was well known that the Lincolns would be attending the play/comedy "Our American Cousin."  John Wilkes Booth was himself an actor and had recently appeared at Ford's Theater and knew its layout.  It is believed that he drilled a small peephole in the door to the box where the presidential party would be seated.

A die-hard Confederate supporter, Booth had previously concocted schemes to murder or kidnap Lincoln.

This one worked because of a chance confluence of events: Lincoln's regular bodyguard had the day off and his police replacement left his post outside the box for a seat in the audience.

Booth peered through the peephole and seeing the coast was clear, rushed into the box holding a gun and a knife.  According to the Chicago Tribune's account given by a Union officer Captain Theodore McGowan, who was an eyewitness: The house was perfectly still, the large audience listening to the dialogue between 'Florence Trencher' and 'Mary Meredith' when the sharp report of a pistol rang through the house.

"A moment after, a man leaped from the front of the box,, directly down nine feet onto the stage and ran rapidly across it. ...As he leaped he cried distinctly the motto of Virginia 'Sic Semper Tyrannis.'  ...Consternation seemed for a moment to rivet everyone to his seat, the next moment confusion reigned supreme."

--Old Secesh

Lincoln's Killing Stunned the Nation-- Part 1

From the April 12, 2015, Chicago Tribune "Chicago Flashback: Killing stunned a nation" by Ron Grossman.

President Abraham Lincoln was in a lighthearted mood according to his wife on that fateful night they went to Ford's Theater to see a play on that Good Friday.  After all, Richmond had fallen and Lee had surrendered.  The long and bloody war was nearing an end.  there were still problems to face, but the worst surely seemed over.  And, then there was tragic death of their 11-year-old-son Willie, three years earlier.

On April 11th, Lincoln had given a speech at the White House talking about reconstruction and a new constitution for Louisiana.  This speech infuriated one who was there, John Wilkes Booth.  He vowed, "That is the last speech he will make."  Three days later, on April 14th, he did something about it.

While the Lincolns were on their afternoon carriage ride, Booth slipped into Ford's Theatre, where he knew they would be that night because the management had placed ads announcing the Lincolns would be attending that night.

--Old Secesh

Lincoln Assassinated on Good Friday, 1865

From the Stoneman Gazette.

Good Friday this year falls on April 3rd, but back in 1865, it was on April 14th.  That was the night President Lincoln was assassinated.  I never knew that before today.

Tom Layton reprinted  the April 14, 2006, New York Times article by Richard Wight "The President Who Died For Us."

"Good Friday-- the day commemorating Christ's Crucifixion, falls on April 14 in 2006, as it did in 1865.  On that evening, in the balcony of Ford's Theater in Washington, John Wilkes Booth fired a homemade .41 caliber derringer ball into the back of Abraham Lincoln's head."

Something I Did Not Know.

The Worst Thing That Could Have happened to the South at the Time.  --Old Secesh

Presentation Tonight at the MCCWRT: John Wilkes Booth

The McHenry Civil War Round Table will be meeting tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Woodstock, Illinois Public Library at 414 W. Judd Street.

Tonight's presentation will be given by retired FBI firld agent Richard Stilling and will be "A Historic Account of the Murderous Activity of John Wilkes Booth on the Night of April 14, 1865.

You can find more information at www.mchenrycivilwar.com.

I will be there.

--Old Secesh

Lincoln Assassination Items in New York

From the June 12, 2011, Tarrytown-Sleepy Hollow Patch.

The Historical Society of these two towns has two objects of interest to Lincoln assassination people.

One is a check signed by John Wilkes Booth.

The other is co-conspirator Mary Surratt's last letter, which includes the line, "God knows I am innocent, but for some cause I must suffer today."

Of Interest.  --Old Secesh